Tuesday, February 25, 2014

BIRDS, BIRDS, BIRDS! A SPECIAL EXHIBITION 'THE WONDER OF BIRDS' WILL SHOW THE MANY FACETS OF OUR FEATHERY FRIENDS AS YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE.

KEE@FSWMAG.COMIf you are planning to visit England as in London from 24 May till 14 September, make an effort to visit Norwich in Norfolk and visit Norwich castle which houses the museum and art gallery. Since the Brits expect their salaries to be paid by ex-colonists, you have to buy the ticket for RM 44. But this ticket includes entry to historic Norwich castle as well as 'The Wonder of Birds' exhibition so it is a good buy and there is a wonderful selection of gifts from their souvenir shop.

Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery

The Wonder of Birds

24 May to 14 September 2014

Holbein's 'Lady with Squirrel and Starling' is the exhibition's logo

The Wonder of Birds
will explore the cultural impact of
birds upon mankind. Eliciting a wide range of emotions from awe to fear,
and from pleasure to cruelty, birds have intrigued humanity since the earliest
of times. With loans from local and national collections, this innovative
exhibition will span the centuries and include some 220 works by major artists
and illustrators, historical and contemporary, natural history, archaeology,
fashion and social history.

The exhibition comprises six sections, each
highlighting a different aspect of birds, their meanings and our relationships
with them. Every section will integrate art with taxidermy so the visitor
is surrounded by birds wherever they look. The show begins by introducing
the visitor to the breadth of this fascinating subject: what is a bird; what do
they mean to us; how have we studied, portrayed, preserved, endangered and used
them? This section will feature Hans Holbein’s stunning Lady with a
Squirrel and a Starling, back in Norfolk
for the first time since its acquisition by the National Gallery in 1992.
Probably painted during Holbein’s first
visit to England in 1526-8,
it is thought that the sitter is Anne Lovell: the starling in the
background and the pet squirrel on a chain allude to her name as the Lovell
family’s coat of arms includes squirrels and they owned a house at East Harling
in Norfolk.
This work will be complemented by another beautiful Renaissance work of
art, an exquisite 15th century drawing by Andrea Mantegna
(1431-1506), which portrays a bird from the artist’s imagination, illustrating
how birds have been used decoratively and heraldically through the ages.
In complete contrast, an
imposing Great Hornbill by the contemporary artist and author, Katrina van
Grouw, shows a bird’s skeletal structure.

Section 2, Predators and Prey,
presents a variety of species including birds of prey and game birds.
It will examine the traditional symbolism of the eagle, from kingship to
fascism, exemplified by a darkly humorous Russian propaganda poster from WWII,
in which the fascist eagle is demoted to crow by the act of being strangled by
a Russian soldier. The section will explore hawking as a high-status
pastime amongst royalty and nobility, and the hunting of game birds for food
and prestigious ‘trophies’. A portrait of a Tudor Norwich mayor, Peter
Reade, proudly displaying his hooded falcon, may be compared with a magnificent
12th century Iranian lustreware ceramic figure of a hawk
demonstrating the worldwide appeal of birds of prey. Birds as both
predator and prey are depicted in Hawk Pouncing on Partridges, a rare
oil painting by the pioneering artist of natural history, John James Audubon
(1785-1851) and the dramatic photograph by Eric Hosking of a barn owl in
flight. During the show there will be a live link to the Hawk and Owl
Trust’s camera which records the development of the Peregrine Falcon nest on
the Norwich Cathedral spire, thereby bringing living birds directly into the
exhibition, giving visitors an insight into their beauty, vulnerability and
ability for adaptation and survival.

Birds can be closely associated with our
ideas of place and as such may be strongly connected with local
identities. This is especially true in East Anglia, which boasts a wealth
of wetland and other habitats of worldwide importance housing unique groups of
species. Section 3, Birds and Landscape, will include herons,
bitterns, ducks, geese, and swans, and the works exhibited will include a
recent painting by Maggi Hambling, Heron in the shallows of the Thames, on view to the public for the first time.

Despite the ethereal beauty of the bird,
Hambling’s work also makes a sharp comment on contemporary issues as the heron,
a favourite of the artist and portrayed by her many times, is wading through
polluted water, searching in vain for fish. It is contrasted with the
oldest object in the exhibition, a carved stone duck from Babylon, dating from around 2000 BC.
This small sculpture originally had a practical use as a grain weight.
It is strikingly abstract and modern in appearance, clearly made by
someone who had closely observed ducks’ behaviour, as it captures the essence
of the bird with elegance and simplicity.

In addition to their strong associations
with the land, birds are also closely linked with the sea, travel, distance and
migration. Some birds travel phenomenal distances annually and Section 4,
Migrants and Ocean Travellers, will examine the seasonal behaviour which
may take migrating birds from Norfolk to the
Arctic, Africa or South America. Culture
and traditions surrounding seabirds also come under the spotlight, and Bruce
Pearson’s haunting image of a dead albatross on the floor of a fish processing
plant is particularly poignant. An albatross taxidermy specimen,
displayed alongside, will bring home the majestic size of this now endangered
species.

Section 5 is entitled Introducing the
Exotic. Exotic birds have always been coveted for their brilliant
plumage, combined with their sheer rarity value, both for their feathers and as
high-status pets. This section will focus on the use of feathers of all
kinds for clothing, fashion accessories and decoration – a trend which peaked
in the western world in the 19th century. The resulting deaths
of thousands of birds sparked off the awareness of extinction which led to the
founding of the RSPB, even though the use of feathers in fashion continues
today. On show will be a late 1930s’ hat of pheasant feathers, dyed in
brilliant artificial colours to make it even more eye-catching. This
section will also highlight the domestication of once-exotic species such as
chickens, turkeys and canaries, the latter now closely connected with Norwich
City Football Club. A grand and exuberant 17th century portrait
of a cockerel and hens by Dutch artist Melchior de Hondecoeter (1636-1695),
which would once have adorned an English stately home, highlights how these now
commonplace birds were then regarded as symbols of status. This section
will also feature a rare early taxidermy specimen of the Paradise Parrot, a
species extinct for almost a century.

The Realms of the
Spirit, the final section, will illustrate how
songbirds and their relatives have symbolised the immortal soul, been seen as
heralds of the seasons, messengers from heaven, or as magical beings moving
between worlds. Major loans will include a gold Colombian shaman’s
necklace portraying half-human, half-bird figures. This work, a star
exhibit in the recent BritishMuseum show Beyond El
Dorado, is a religious object, an important part of a shaman’s regalia worn
as part of a ritual, an aid to entering the trance state needed for spiritual
flight. Birds also featured in the religious cultures of northern Europe, demonstrated by the early Saxon pendant depicting
the head of the god Woden, flanked on either side of his hat by stylised
representations of his two ravens which symbolised Thought and Memory.
The cultural importance of birds is emphasised in an entirely different
way by Spring Cuckoo, a sculpture of found metal objects by contemporary
artist Harriet Mead. She captures the essence of this bird, traditionally
considered the herald of spring with a sense of drama and gaiety, even though
the cuckoo is declining, its numbers in England reduced by half since 1995.

Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery
is part of the countywide multi-award-winning Norfolk Museums Service (NMS),
comprising ten museums and a study centre. It is one of only sixteen
Major Partner Museums in the country receiving substantial revenue investment
from Arts Council England.

Hans Holbein the Younger (c. 1497-1543), A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (Anne Lovell?), c. 1526-8